Ukrainian minister, governor in “street-style” spat

December 15, 2015

MOSCOW (AP) — The spokesman for Ukraine’s president has upbraided the country’s interior minister and the Odessa governor for a water-throwing and insult-laced clash during a meeting of the National Reform Council.

At the Monday meeting, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov challenged Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president who now heads the Odessa region, about Saakashvili allegedly approaching a Russian tycoon about privatizing a major Odessa chemical plant. Saakashvili “broke into hysterics ... I refrained from hitting him -- splashed water in his face,” Avakov said on Facebook.

Ukrainian news reports said Saakashvili in turn accused Avakov of financing a private militia through corrupt means and demanded that video of the council session be made public.